


Hear the Man Shout In Welsh

by cheshireArcher



Category: Henry IV Part 1 - Shakespeare
Genre: F/M, Failing to learn languages if we're going to be perfectly honest, Gen, Learning languages, Stuttering Harry, welsh - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-28
Updated: 2017-02-28
Packaged: 2018-09-27 11:07:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10017110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheshireArcher/pseuds/cheshireArcher
Summary: Hotspur tries to surprise his Welsh lady by learning Welsh. It goes as well as can be expected.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Ah yes here I am at 2 am writing Katespur because my life is out of control and I need more fluff in my life. 
> 
> I've been talking to my good friend Planet_Plantagenet about the languages we're learning (they're learning Welsh and I'm learning German) and I had this idea of Hotspur trying (and failing) to learn Welsh.

Hotspur sat at the desk in his solar with a book open and scraps of parchment in front of him. He was scribbling furiously, about to break his quill in anger. 

It had seemed like such a good idea at the time, to learn Welsh. Kate was born in Wales and knew enough Welsh to get around and carry a conversation. Since Hotspur wasn't around very often, he always wanted to make Kate happy in the time he _was_ home, even if he wasn't always good at doing it. 

Sometimes Kate missed Usk, Monmouthshire, where she'd spent a good deal of her childhood. Hotspur knew what it was like to miss home. He didn't like anywhere that wasn't Northumberland. So he had the brilliant idea of learning some Welsh, which would certainly surprise her, and she'd hopefully like that. Maybe it would make his Welsh lady feel a little less homesick. She'd been living in Northumberland for years now but sometimes it hit her that she still missed Wales, even though she herself wasn't Welsh. 

So Hotspur tried with all his might to learn the language. One of their precious few books was a guide to Welsh, and he had opened it on his desk and begun with the first page. Somehow he expected it would be like learning anything else, like riding a horse or putting on armor. It couldn't be _that_ hard to learn a language, it was just a series of sounds and words and rules.

He was very much mistaken.

It was nothing like English. The words looked like someone had just written random letters. Words had nothing he recognized as vowels, and spellings changed randomly. But he kept at it. When Harry Percy was determined to do something, there was no stopping him. 

The hardest part was pronunciation. He'd heard Welsh quite a bit, obviously during his time in Wales and also from Kate. She sang to their children in Welsh, and he could piece together the meanings of some words and phrases. However, hearing the sounds told him nothing about what he was reading, since the Welsh alphabet was completely different.

"CH" and "DD" were considered one letter instead of two, as were "FF," "NG," "LL," "PH," "RH," and "TH." "W" and "Y" were vowels. Hotspur certainly couldn't ask for help or a partner for practice because that would ruin the surprise and he was very bad at keeping surprises. It got even worse when the beginnings of words mutated into some grotesque thing that he once thought he knew. 

But what made speaking it the worst was his voice. He had stuttered since childhood and this made it hard enough to understand him even in English. The Welsh language was completely murdered when he tried to speak. 

He kept working, sure that if he tried hard enough he could make sense of it. He was filled with determination at the thought of impressing his wife. However, there was a fault to his determination. He never let go of something he wanted or intended to do, but that was not always wise. He didn't know when to concede or pace himself. He essentially crashed through life, not knowing what was going on. If he had decided to drive his head through a stone wall, he probably would. 

That's why Kate found him, standing in front of a desk, the chair knocked to the floor, pieces of parchment scattered around him, as he shouted at a book. 

"Zounds! This b-blasted language!"

"Harry," Kate said gently, trying to get his attention. 

"A curse on W-wales! W-what do they think they are? Think th-this is good enough for them?" 

Kate tried again. "Harry," she said, louder this time. "What's the matter?"

Hotspur whipped around, nearly in a battle frenzy. "God d-damn this language!" His eyes flashed with rage. "It's nothing b-but b-blather claiming to be w-words."

Kate slipped past him and began cleaning up the mess. She gathered the parchment, all of which were covered in chicken scratch and scribbled-over words. 

"Kate-" 

She sighed and tucked the Welsh book under her arm to keep it safe. Hotspur was beginning to calm down. Smaller outbursts were usually over quickly.

Sensing he should help, he turned the chair upright and carefully put the quill away- fortunately he hadn't spilt any ink.

"What were you doing, Harry?" Kate asked. 

"I- I- I w-wanted to learn W-welsh," he admitted.

"Why didn't you just talk to me?" Kate asked. "You can't learn a language just from books."

"I w-wanted to surprise you," he said. He stepped closer and took her hand- his big, rough hands were covered in ink from his sloppy writing habits.

"To surprise me?" She asked. 

"Yes. I thought..." he didn't know what to say next. "I thought it w-would make you happy."

"You already make me happy, Harry," Kate said. 

Hotspur felt a pang in his heart. He looked down, unable to meet her eyes. "I can't say the w-words. I can't e-even speak in E-english," he stammered. It usually got worse when he was upset. "I sound so s-stupid. I don't know w-why  I th-thought I c-could speak W-welsh." 

"Oh, Harry," Kate said. She gently lay her hand on the back of his neck and tilted his head down so she could kiss his cheek and whisper. 

"I love you in any language."


End file.
